• women in technology careers

    Mentorship Program

    The Next Level Up™ Mentorship Program

Mission

The Next Level Up™ Mentorship Program offered by WIT is a unique program developed by Women In Technology focused on high potential women talent who are seeking to cultivate their careers and capacity as leaders. The program is carefully designed to prepare, promote, and mentor women for their next level in their career. It is the perfect opportunity to help women build powerful networks, enhance professional relationships and contribute to effective succession planning.

Program Goals

  • The Next Level Up™ Mentoring Program offered by WIT is a 12-month program designed to increase the number of women ready and willing to assume higher level positions. This will be accomplished by bringing together senior women leaders with those who desire mentorship to reach the next level.
  • The program will consist of recurring mentorship meetings, networking opportunities, panel discussions and more.
  • The ultimate goal is for the relationship to become mutually beneficial, lending exclusive insight and perspective to, and from, both sides of the table.

Program Benefits

Mentee Program Benefits:

  • Provide high quality leadership development
  • Structured framework with the flexibility of a personal growth plan where you set your own priorities and goals based on where you are
    (Obtain a 360-degree assessment)
  • Program does not require long absences from work or your personal life
  • Provides customized, real-time support to meet participant needs
  • Provides a safe, confidential environment to address participant issues and challenges
  • You get out of this what you put in
  • Contact with experienced professionals that understand the context of the Technology field, the issues that arise on a daily basis, and know how to accelerate your ability to navigate them
  • Help you understand how to navigate organizational dynamics
  • Strengthen your executive presence
  • Strengthen your personal brand
  • Strengthen your leadership capabilities
  • Strengthen your communication style
  • Strengthen your self awareness
  • Understand the impact you have on others

Mentor Program Benefits:

  • Opportunity to “pay-it-forward” to the next generation of leadership
  • Gain insight and perspective from mentees
  • Expand their repertoire of professional knowledge and skills through their instruction and facilitation of others
  • Fulfillment and satisfaction of helping others and contributing to the development of the next generation of leaders
  • Help build community
  • Exposure to a new way of thinking

Criteria for the program

Who should participate?

  • High Potential Talent looking to move into a more senior role in the in the next 1-5 years
  • 2+ years’ experience in leadership of a business relevant to your industry background
  • High Potential Talent looking to enhance existing skills 
  • Have commitment and motivation to rise to and succeed in more senior positions
  • Core Competencies:
    -Team-Oriented
    -Interpersonal Skills: Communication, Relational, Influence, and Reputation
    -Personal Leadership Skills
    -Technical Skills: Information Technology, Marketing, Information Security, Coding & Programming, Big Data, Agile, Product Management, etc. (Minimum of 1 required)
    -Personal Attributes: Integrity, Commitment and Capacity
  • Demonstrates readiness to complete the program (based on assessment of application and CV)
  • Commitment to Women in Technology and its objectives
  • A drive to excel
  • Relentless learner
  • Has the innovative mindset with the ability to translate that new idea into productive action
  • An enterprising spirit. Always searching for productive ways to blaze new paths. 

Time Commitment

  • The Next Level Up™ Mentorship Program offered by WIT provides structure to help sustain and maintain momentum, yet it is flexible enough to give you the freedom you need to individualize the program to suit your needs
  • This is a 12-month program
  • Each mentoring partnership will agree on the frequency and duration of their meetings
  • Mentorship pairs are encouraged to meet once a month and are expected to commit to at least one year of the program

Selection Committee Process

The selection process is very competitive. Each year approximately 20 women are selected to participate in the The Next Level Up Mentorship Program. A selection committee, made up of industry experts will review and evaluate each application. As part of your application to this program, you will be required to provide a letter of recommendation from a senior leader and will be asked to go through an interview process with the selection committee. While there is no special formula for what the selection committee looks for, successful applicants will have the traits needed to move to the next level.

Program Outline

Program Timeline

August 13, 2021

Applications Open

October 29, 2021 at midnight

Applications Close

November 5, 2021

Selection Committee reviews applications

November 11-12, 2021

Mentee/Mentor Matched

November 15, 2021

Program Acceptance Letters sent to each of the selected candidates

January 11, 2022

Mentee and Mentor Training:  Virtual (1 hour)
The program will kick off with two separate workshops to train the mentees and the mentors about the expectations and the role they play in the program

January, February, March 2022

The Mentee and Mentor to meet monthly:  Minimum of 1 hour per month
This is where the mentoring begins.  Each partnership will be given a topic that your discussions will focus on.  How this topic is discussed is up to you but this structure allows the mentor to ensure that the key topics that are the focus of the WIT mentorship program are covered

April 2022
Date TBD Venue TBD

Mentee Networking Event

May and June 2022

Mentee and Mentor continue with Mentoring Session:  Minimm of 1 hour a month
Last Mentee and Mentor Mentoring Session of the Program

July 21, 2022
6:00 – 8:00 PM EST Venue TBD

Networking Event with Special Guest Speaker:  Patti Dismukes, WIT Board President
Speaker Topic:  Women on Boards
-Being on a Board
-The role of the director on a Board
-What do Boards look for?

August 2022
Date TBD Venue TBD

Mentee Networking Event

September 22

Mentee and Mentor continue with Mentoring Session:  Minimm of 1 hour a month
Last Mentee and Mentor Mentoring Session of the Program

October 2022
Date TBD Venue TBD

Networking Event with Special Guest Speaker:  Marva Bailer, Global Sales Leader-High Technology at Amazon Web Services

Speaker Topic:  Branding and Networking

-Build your value proposition
-What is your LinkedIn Profile is really telling recruiters and executive search firms?
-Build out your profile

November 2022
Date TBD Venue TBD

Graduation Reception: Dinner and special speaker

WIT The Next Level Up™ SELECTION COMMITTEE

 

Penny Collins

WIT President & CEO

RHONDA JOHNSON

Volunteer Program Director
Global Human Resources Leader, PubNub 

Andrea Kando

Volunteer Program Director

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